1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to wireless communication, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for performing Media Independent Handover (MIH).
2. Related Art
The IEEE 802.21 standard defines a Media Independent Handover Protocol (MIHP). In order to use the MIHP, a newly defined MIHP header must be inserted between an OSI layer 2 header and an OSI layer 3 header of a packet. FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional format of an MIHP header.
However, currently used packets include only information about an OSI layer 2 header and an OSI layer 3 header, and do not indicate whether an MIHP header is included in each packet. Thus, according to the conventional standard, there is no method used by network devices to determine whether the MIHP is used. Thus, if only information provided by the OSI layer 2 is used, Media Independent Handover (MIH) cannot be performed. In order for a network device to perform the MIHP defined in IEEE 802.21, a separate operation is needed. This separate operation results in a delay of a processing speed of the network device and a corresponding degradation of Quality of Service (QoS) of the network.